Take A Walk
by Amelie Enjolras
Summary: "Cosette, why did you accept dating Enjolras if you don't see him the way he does? More importantly, why do you keep feeding his feelings? You're pathetic!" Éponine spat. "Oh Éponine please don't tell him anything," Cosette pleaded.
1. Chapter 1

"Cosette, I need to talk to you..." Éponine said severely.

Cosette, along with her best friend from University, Musichetta, turned around to face Éponine, a petite brunette that was the total opposite of herself. Clad in skinny jeans, converse shoes and a red and black, v-necked t-shirt that depicted a phrase Cosette didn't acknowledge, Éponine contrasted with the blonde girl who wore a baby blue preppy dress and high heels. Musichetta looked at her as though she was insignificant and Cosette smiled, trying to appear friendly but not being able to hide her discomfort.

"Yes, Éponine?" Cosette answered.

"Alone," she cleared out while openly staring at Musichetta disdainfully.

"I'll leave then. I'll be in H&M if you need me," she said looking worriedly at her friend and then purposely bumping shoulders with Éponine, who hissed in return.

"Your friend loves me," she said with irony.

"Oh, she's not used to you, but if you meet her, you'll be friends in a little while," Cosette answered with a wide smile.

"So...what do you want?" she continued after a minute of uncomfortable silence. They stood up in the middle of the mall while everyone around them moved busily.

"Perhaps we could go somewhere more discreet?" Éponine asked.

"Le Café Musain?" Cosette proposed.

"Are you kidding me? Enjolras will probably be there!" Éponine exclaimed.

"Ah, so you want to talk to me about my boyfriend..." she stated doubtfully.

"Yes, I'm worried about him," Éponine answered.

Éponine and Enjolras were best friends since high school. Now in university they even lived together in a house with Grantaire and Combeferre. There was nothing between them, no estrange chemistry when their fingers touched or blushing when their eyes met. At least, that's what Éponine thought when he proposed that she moved with them to cut prices and make it easier for her, who was struggling with maintaining her scholarship in Emerson College, which she had dedicated heart and soul to get.

The first year was very easy for her. She got used to having Courfeyrac, another one of their friends, as a guest in their sofa quite often and seeing that Grantaire didn't cause himself any harm after his drunken nights. She accustomed to Combeferre's rather _unusual_ times of studying and sleeping and the constant visit of all their amis. When they all got used to go for her advice, she finally felt like she had a proper family.

One day, Enjolras arrived home with a girl holding his hand. It was Cosette, his new girlfriend, who all of their amis found beautiful but sort of insufrible. Then, Éponine realized certain details she actually really valued in Enjolras, when he stopped doing them. He no longer hugged her, brought her movies to watch, books to discuss, he wouldn't remember her with anything during his day, help her with her schoolwork or ask her for help. He didn't invite her to have a dinner on saturdays in "non dates" plans. He wouldn't sit down and enjoy music with her or bring her a cookie from Le Café Musain whenever he was reminded of her. He wouldn't even discuss about the state of the country with her; he had Cosette for all that. She was there to hear him complain about schoolwork, to help him barricade himself in his room whenever their friend's music was too loud and he needed to study, to accompany him as he read a book and to sing to him when he needed to relax. She tried that Enjolras' lack of attention didn't harm her. After all, she wasn't in love with him...or at least that's what she tried to think.

The walked to a little ice cream parlor in the mall and sat down on a corner. Cosette could guess what Éponine was going to tell her but still tried to play dumb and simply try to avoid the conversation as much as possible.

"The last time I talked to Enjolras, he was fine," Cosette said.

"And...when was that Cosette? A week ago? For being his girlfriend you really seem to be uninterested about what's happening in his life!" Éponine said irritably.

"What happened? Is he okay?" Cosette asked.

"He flunked a class Cosette...it's the first time IN HIS LIFETIME that something like this happens to him. If I had to guess it's due to how worried he is..." Éponine roared.

"Is he worried? What about?" Cosette asked innocently.

"I don't want to point out anything but he's been very worried about your relationship," Éponine said and Cosette rolled her eyes meanly, showing clearly that she was not used to do that kind of gestures. Éponine raised her eyebrow.

"Our relationship is in a perfect state. Thanks for worrying. That's it," Cosette said in a rush and stood up but Éponine took her wrist and made her sit down.

"Forget about this Missy. Sit down," Éponine demanded.

"What? You've got nothing to say about _my _relationship with Enjolras. Unless you're particularly interested in us breaking..." she said, trying to add a little suspicion in her voice, which completely irritated Éponine.

"The jealous girlfriend role doesn't fit you," Éponine snarled, "Now you're going to tell me, what's going on?"

"Nothing's going on," she said innocently.

"Cosette, he just talks to me about how you fight every day and let me tell you...the topics you fight about are so unimportant that I don't think Enjolras would ever start them...I mean, he wouldn't fight about you not having time to accompany him to buy a book...or that you don't respect his "sleeping time". Seriously, why do you do it? It almost seems like you want to fight with him..." Éponine answered, recovering her composure a little. Cosette sighed.

"Enjolras is much like you...let's accept it, you have so much in common!" she said.

"That's why I care about him...we spent a very good time together, we're very close friends. And still that's another excuse for fighting with him. You told him he spent too much time with me..." she reproached.

"Well...it's true..." she said with indifference.

"Listen to me blondie, YOUR boyfriend asked me, his BEST FRIEND, to serenade you. He even gave me the song. And it's a beautiful song. You know what? I'm going to do it, sing the damned song to you in his behalf, although I'm sure you won't understand it or appreciate it. That's how much he loves you but you're a preppy princess and if he's not like a lost puppy behind you, you don't think it's love," Éponine said.

"Don't say that!" Cosette defended herself in a weak voice.

"Is there something you need to tell me?" Éponine asked.

"You won't tell anybody right?" Cosette asked with tears in her eyes.

"It depends..." she answered.

"I met a guy, alright? Actually...Enjolras introduced him to me. It was actually love at first sight! He's so different to Enjolras...I mean you should see him Éponine. He's handsome, but totally different to Enjolras. And he's not desperately trying to find a hidden meaning to everything. He likes politics but he's not always ranting about it. He's tender and cute. We've been dating for two months and I think I'm actually in love Éponine," she said dreamily and Éponine looked at her alarmed.

"Why did you accept dating Enjolras if you don't see him the way he does? More importantly, why do you keep feeding his feelings? You're pathetic!" Éponine spat.

"I did find Enjolras attractive when he first asked me to date him...and when he asked me to be his girlfriend...I don't know...my father was there and my father loves Enjolras because he's intelligent and has a future. People stared and Enjolras smiled, expecting an answer. There was so much pressure in me! Besides...it's not like I didn't like him...I actually felt I loved him. But then the magic broke...and Marius appeared and he's a beau," she said.

"What's his name again?" Éponine asked shocked.

"Marius. Marius Pontmercy," she said.

"So...you're cheating on Enjolras with the stepbrother he can't stand. Brava!" she said ironically.

"What?" Cosette asked, her eyes wide open.

"What you heard. Marius' dad moved in with Enjolras' mom like two or three years ago...and they cannot stand each other. They don't acknowledge each other as "real" stepbrothers," Éponine explained.

"That's why he introduced Marius to me as a friend?" Cosette asked.

"I don't know...maybe. He introduced him to me as the insufrible idiot who's father ruined his family," Éponine said.

"Oh Éponine please don't tell him anything," Cosette pleaded.

"Why would I help you?" Éponine asked curtly.

"Because...if you don't...I'll tell him you love him," Cosette menaced, making Éponine laugh coldly.

"First, you wouldn't be capable of doing so. Second, it wouldn't matter because that's not true. You've got much more to loose than I do," Éponine said.

"I've seen how you look at him, Éponine, you really like him and everyone knows that," Cosette said.

"Really? And do you think he'll believe you? You who have been cheating on him?" Éponine asked raising her eyebrow.

"Please Nina..." she said.

"Don't call me that," she replied coldly. The nickname reminded her of a very dark moment of her life.

"Well 'Ponina," she tried again.

"That nickname's reserved for friends and clearly you aren't one," Éponine said severely, making Cosette look away.

"Please don't tell him...I never meant to harm him...please," Cosette tried, making Éponine sigh heavily.

Maybe it was the way she loved to help those in need or the fact that she didn't want to make Enjolras upset, but Éponine felt she couldn't tell him. She cursed weakness and her heart ached for a while.

"Cosette...you'll tell him and tell him now," Éponine said.

"I'll search for a way to make it less painful for him," Cosette promised enthusiastically while standing up and hugging Éponine, who frowned and stood up.

"I'm sorry Cosette, but I can't share your enthusiasm," she said turning around to leave. Finding herself face to face with Enjolras, who was being pushed to the ice cream parlor by Grantaire. His frustrated frown turned into a smile as soon as he saw Cosette behind Éponine. He moved forward and said hello to Éponine before kissing Cosette, who kissed him back rather reluctantly.

"What's wrong?" he asked looking at Éponine worriedly.

"Nothing love," Cosette answered with a smile on her face as she hugged him.

"Good to know. I've got so much to tell you!" he said hugging her back.

Éponine looked at Enjolras and Cosette with an unavoidable frown.

"I have to go..." Éponine said, more to herself than to anybody else. Grantaire, who was looking from afar, hugged the girl and took her out of the ice cream parlor as Enjolras and Cosette sat down and talked lively.

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**This is a complicated love triangle...and I'm loving all the ideas I'm getting! :) I hope you like it. **


	2. Chapter 2

"What should I do Grantaire?" Éponine asked him in a broken voice.

They had gone to Le Café Musain since they knew Enjolras wouldn't be there. Éponine had cried bitterly all the way from the idea cream parlor to the café, which worried Grantaire quite a lot; he had seen her crying that same way just twice, when her mother announced that she was getting married for the third time and when she felt completely desolated once her mother, sister and second stepfather moved to France, leaving her alone with her high school diploma and a small suit case full of her clothing.

"Dear Éponine, we accept the love we think we deserve," he said solemnly while patting her back.

"Shit Grantaire, please stop quoting The Perks of Being a Wallflower," she demanded while cleaning the tears from her eyes , "besides, that particular line doesn't even belong to this situation because he. doesn't. love. me. back! And that's the fucked up point of all of this, do you understand me?"

"Éponine, he doesn't deserve his tears. My whole point is that Enjolras thinks he deserves that beautiful Blondie with nothing in her head. Actually, I don't know how she got his attention; you know how he was all serious with the "compromise to Patria". Then he met Blondie and he ditched Patria. And now he's failing a class. Typical," he said taking a sip from the bottle he had ordered and receiving a reproving glance from Éponine.

"In that case Enjolras thinks he deserves a beautiful girl with a rich family just like his, that dresses well, combs her hair five times a day and smiles a lot. He thinks he deserves perfect, barbie Cosette," she said while lowering her eyes, "and you know what's the worst part? He does deserve a perfect, barbie Cosette."

"To bad he cannot see beautiful, intelectual Éponine, who dresses with whatever she finds in her closet and still manages to look hot as hell, who has a perfectly dysfunctional family made up of Les Amis, whose genuine smile doesn't appear every day but, when it does, it makes the sun jealous and, when it doesn't, is replaced by all sorts of curious expressions that make everyone's day better, who's perfect in her own way," Grantaire finished with a cute smile on his face, making her look at him with her eyebrows almost disappearing under the few strands of hair the fell in her forehead.

"You've talked like a lover," she said with a grin.

"What?! I'm an artist! I pay attention to all of those things...besides, that day I was so drunk I couldn't maintain my head held high and you still fed me in my mouth like a baby, I realized that, if I really was in love with you, I would already be too buried in the friend zone to even try," he replied, laughing hysterically.

Éponine bit her lip hardly. "Loneliness is underrated," she announced.

"Ha! Now you're that quotes!" he exclaimed, making her look up in confusion.

"500 Days of Summer?" he suggested and she nodded enthusiastically, remembering the day, way before Cosette's arrival, in which Éponine had dared Enjolras to watch the movie with her and he actually liked it so much they watched it twice and discussed Tom and Summer's philosophical positions around love and marriage before he decided to watch another movie. Éponine smiled brightly at the thought, which was interrupted by the chorus of Carried Away by Passion Pit, which announced Enjolras was calling her.

"Hey 'Ponina," he said, cheerfully from the other side. Due to the exorbitant amount of noise behind, she deduced he was still at the mall, probably accompanying Cosette and her friend in their shopping spree.

"Hey Apollo. How's it going?" she asked, eyeing Grantaire severely as she tried to sound as cheerful as he was. Grantaire convinced her to put the phone on speaker.

"I'm fine, accompanying my Cosette buying a few things. I was going to ask you if you're still willing to sing the song for her? I'm willing to pay you..." he said, which muffled Éponine and made Grantaire quite upset. He took the phone and talked, without being stopped by her.

"Hello Enjy...I'm currently making out with the lady so please call some other time. Have fun in your shopping spree. Byeee," he said before hanging. They both laughed, especially since Enjolras called about ten times in a row, not receiving a response.

At the mall, Enjolras was enraged by what Grantaire told him. He didn't know whether to believe it or not but the truth was that he didn't feel right at all with the perspective of Grantaire making out with Éponine. She was, after all, his Éponine, the girl he would watch movies with, discuss anything, read books, hug constantly and all...he was feeling something that bordered jealousy, although he didn't know why.

_I see her as a sister...maybe that's it. I'm like a jealous brother, isn't it? _

There was something that simply wasn't right about Éponine making out with Grantaire or any other man. He didn't know why but he felt like the only man that had the right to hug her, give her a kiss or anything, was him. He was burning with fury when he decided to leave his girlfriend, who was fitting some dresses and didn't even care whether if he was there or not, and go to the house, where he supposed _they _would be.

He arrived at the house just at the same time as they did. Éponine was laughing, which made Enjolras completely mad, especially because Grantaire had his hand on her hips, those sexy hips accentuated by her freaking skinny jeans.

_Enjolras you have a girlfriend! _

"Where were you two?" he said crossing his arms.

Éponine, bit her lip seductively and, doing a pretty good imitation of Emma Stone in "Easy A", walked towards Enjolras and purred in his ear, "Grantaire was just in the middle of telling me this very funny thing...which is really funny...and I was wondering if you would get out of our way...you know, for him to continue telling me...his very funny story."

"Éponine are you drunk?" he asked while grabbing her arms and seeing her laugh with Grantaire like a madman.

"Maybe, Apollo, now get out of my way," she said taking Grantaire's arm and pulling him inside the house.

Courfeyrac and Joly, who were watching Doctor Who, turned off the tv when Éponine arrived laughing uncontrollably and whispering in Grantaire's ear, making their way to her room and closing the door behind them, to Enjolras dismay. Then, The Killers blasting at full volume took over the house, which made the three men stare openmouthed and imagining what was going on inside.

Éponine and Grantaire sat down on the floor, still laughing because of his pathetic reaction. They planned it at Le Café Musain after Enjolras' fifth call. They planned not to leave the room until the next day, determined to survive on the various junk foods that Éponine saved in her bedroom and Grantaire's everlasting wine bottle.

They put Éponine's iPod on shuffle with the loudest and hardest songs she had on her playlist. Grantaire feel asleep and Éponine sat down on her chair and concentrated on writing a poem that made her cry silently. When her friend woke up, she was deep in concentration, still writing and crying. He wrapped his arms around her and turned the music off.

"Ép, maybe it's time for you to move on, alright? Search for another guy...better than Enjolras. He's my best friend but I sort of hate him right now," he said while caressing her shoulder.

Then they heard a furious knock on the door. "YOU'VE BEEN THERE THE WHOLE FUCKING AFTERNOON! OPEN THE DAMMED DOOR!" Enjolras shouted.

"WHY DO YOU CARE? WE'RE NOT BOTHERING YOU!" Éponine, surprising both men and herself, replied.

"ÉPONINE OPEN THE DOOR RIGHT NOW," he continued, making Éponine curse under her breath.

She stood up, took off her shoes, pants and shirt. Grantaire was had to take a deep breath when he saw Éponine in her black sexy underwear.

"Too buried in the friend zone, remember? Now give me your shirt," she said before Grantaire took it off.

"Dude...to be a drunkard who's only exercise every week is walking from the bar to your room without kissing the pavement, you've got pretty good abs," she said putting on his shirt and disheveling her hair a little.

Enjolras didn't expect what he found when Éponine opened the door. She was using Grantaire's shirt, which fit perfectly and showed her long, sexy legs and hugged her body. Enjolras wished it was his shirt and not Grantaire's but all nonsensical thought was blurred when he saw Grantaire lying in Éponine's bed, which sort of made me jump into the harsh reality.

"Oh God...you two fuckers actually did something in that room! JOLY, COMBEFERRE COME HERE!" Courfeyrac said as he stared at Éponine, who frowned. Enjolras was frozen in his place; he wanted to run. When did Éponine and Grantaire hook up? Wasn't Grantaire asexual or something?

Before anybody said anything else, he took his car keys and left. He didn't want to see Éponine looking all sexy in that shirt, Grantaire half naked in her bed, Courfeyrac making fun of them or anything related to what he had almost witnessed. His phone rang and he secretly expected it to be Éponine, telling him that it had all been a prank. But it wasn't, it was Cosette, who had just probably noticed Enjolras' absence. He didn't answer the call and left somewhere.

...

"So...you actually didn't do anything?" said Courfeyrac really disappointed, "And what did you do all afternoon? Play chest?"

"Nothing," Éponine, who was now dressed with some shorts and a loose shirt, confirmed.

"And why did you do it?" Combeferre asked.

"Enjolras called her...offering to pay her if she serenaded Cosette," Grantaire said and the three men looked at each other.

"He can't be that insensible," Joly said.

"But he is," Grantaire answered.

All of their friends, Joly, Jehan, Courfeyrac, Bahorel, Bossuet, Grantaire and Combeferre, knew that Éponine had feelings for Enjolras. In fact, they expected them to be a couple before Cosette appeared in the picture. Everyone would tell them how beautiful a couple they would be. Enjolras would try to forget those comments and Éponine simply laughed. Nobody knew that it was what both secretly expect to happen.

"If you want, next week you can do that same with me," Courfeyrac offered with a smirk.

"No way," she smiled before drinking the beer they had offered to her.

After a few minutes of small talk, Éponine remembered the truth she had learned that same day. It oppressed her chest so much, that she decided she needed to tell somebody about it. Éponine wasn't a gossipy person but what Cosette told her wasn't a topic she could avoid or simply forget. She decided she would tell Combeferre, because he was the only person in the house at the time that wouldn't slur it on a drunken night and because he could help her figure out what to do.

She waited until Joly and Courfeyrac left. At that time, Grantaire was so drunk and snoring in the couch, so he wasn't too much of a problem. Anyhow, Éponine insisted to go to Combeferre's room and talk in whispers, just in case.

"You're worrying me 'Ponina," he whispered.

"You should worry...but it has nothing to do with me," she answered.

"So..." he said.

"I talked to Cosette today..." she began but was interrupted by Combeferre.

"Éponine, look, I know you really have feelings for Enjolras but talking to his girlfriend will just harm you more. You should focus on your studies and then, if you wish, on finding somebody that's not Enjolras," he said.

"No! No! This has nothing to do with my feelings towards him...Alright, I'll confess I went to her just to tell her I was worried about Enjolras failing his class an all but then the conversation gave an unexpected turn and she confessed something to me I need to get off of my chest right now," she whispered in a hurry.

"And what's that?"

"Cosette's cheating on Enjolras," Éponine said.

"What?! Éponine...this is twisted. There's no way that sweet, harmless girl is cheating on Enjolras!" Combeferre exclaimed.

"Say it louder please! I think they didn't hear you very well in China!" she said rolling her eyes.

"Sorry...but that can't just be possibly true," he said gravely.

"Just wait until you know who's her lover," she said.

"Who?"

"Marius Pontmercy," she said.

"No..." he said.

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**I hope you like it. This fic is not going to be very long. Actually expect just a few other chapters...although if I get some other ideas, I'll reconsider :) Thanks for reading. Please comment and rate. **


	3. Chapter 3

**I was supposed to post this chapter much earlier but I had a problem with my laptop and it got erased! I had to rewrite it and all but here it is. Thanks for the lovely reviews. I hope you like it! **

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"Are you sure she told you everything explicitly?" Combeferre asked her, unsure of what she was saying.

"Listen to me, 'Ferre, I'm not a gossipy person. I wouldn't be inventing this. She told me everything!" Éponine replied.

"And you're going to tell Enjolras," he said as though it was the most natural thing to do.

"Of course not!" she exclaimed, somewhat irritated.

"Why not?"

"I promised to Cosette that I wouldn't say anything to him," she said while bitting her lip and feeling pathetic. Combeferre tapped his chin with his index finger and thought quite hard for a few minutes.

"The thing is that I don't want to be the one that breaks Enjolras' heart and I believe that she's the only one that should tell him about it, she told me she would find the way to do so," Éponine explained.

"In that case...we should wait," Combeferre said.

Éponine stood up and wrapped her arms around him as a way of thanking him. Combeferre, feeling it was his duty, soothed her a little by whispering comforting words in her ear; he knew Éponine wasn't having a good time with all of this. Enjolras opened Combeferre's door just a few seconds before they broke the hug. He had tried to overcome his paranoia of seeing Grantaire lying in Éponine's bed and now he saw her in Combeferre's arms.

"WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH YOU ÉPONINE?" he shouted dramatically.

"IT'S NOT WHAT YOU THINK," she answered.

"OH! SO WHEN I SAW YOU WEARING GRANTAIRE'S SHIRT IT WASN'T WHAT I THOUGHT EITHER? WHO ELSE ÉPONINE? COURFEYRAC? OR HAVE YOU ALREADY BEEN WITH HIM?" This last comment irritated Éponine to a point in which she didn't care anymore what he thought.

"SO WHAT IF I'VE BEEN WITH GRANTAIRE, COMBEFERRE, COURFEYRAC, AND THE REST OF LES AMIS? WHAT? ARE YOU JEALOUS?" Their screams were so loud they even woke up Grantaire, who ran to the room worriedly. Combeferre was seeing both of them reprovingly but didn't dare to intrude.

"WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS? ARE YOU SEEKING FOR ATTENTION?" he asked her quite enraged, offending her deeply.

"IT IS NOT YOUR BUSINESS! GO AND TAKE CARE OF YOUR GIRLFRIEND!" she said, which made Combeferre stress out thinking she might blur out something inconvenient.

"WHAT IF I WANT TO TAKE CARE OF YOU? YOU'RE MY BEST FRIEND! I HAVE THE RIGHT TO BE WORRIED ABOUT YOU!"

"MAYBE YOU WORRY TOO MUCH AND WANT TO CONTROL MY FUCKING LIFE!"

"I DON'T WANT YOU TO BE DOING THIS ANYMORE!" he barked.

"STOP WORRYING ABOUT ME...JUST AS I'VE DONE WITH YOU A LONG TIME AGO!" she, unconsciously and guided by rage, said.

"WHAT?" he exclaimed, "Is that true?"

"Enjolras, Ép is tired and maybe she doesn't..." Combeferre tried to say.

"LET. HER. SAY. THE. DAMNED ANSWER!" he said and that's when Éponine realized what she had said. Being the proud person she was, she couldn't simply "unsay" anything like a coward. She sighed.

"Yes, it's true," she whispered.

"Fine...It's not like I need you that much; I've got Cosette with me," he said coldly before leaving. Soon, the heard his door being strongly thrown and then just silence. Éponine stared helplessly at Grantaire and Combeferre, who offered apologetic smiles to her and said nothing. She left with tears in her eyes; she needed to take a walk.

Too late she realized that it was almost 12:00 am and that it was raining really hard. She didn't have an umbrella but kept walking until she reached Boston's Public Garden and lay down in the wet grass. She was soaking wet, drenched to the bone and trembling but still she didn't move, waiting for Enjolras to come with a blanket and tell her she was going to get sick and it was better if Joly checked her up, just in case. She cursed the world and cried in her loneliness. She wrote a poem in her mind about how happy endings existed just for certain types of people, rich, perfect, beautiful people like Cosette, who could cheat on her loving boyfriend and have nothing in her head but would still be loved and would have a Disney princesses life.

Of course she wasn't in said list of people. Her life hadn't been easy, rather messed up. She was born in New Orleans, where her parents arrived from Bordeaux in search of the American dream. They were honest and educated people but they didn't speak english very well so it was hard for them to adapt. As a consequence, Éponine was born in a gutter; a poor pension for low-middle classed people where her parents could just afford a room. After a while, Monsieur and Madame Thénardier couldn't afford the room anymore, so they had to move.

Her sister, Azelma, was born in a smaller place, located in a drearier neighborhood. Thénardier, her father, became a drunk crook that would hit the three of them every night. When she was seven years old, her mother, tired of the situation they were living in, escaped with them from Thénardier's side. They moved with Montparnasse, the owner of a little store, who her mother married a few months later. The two girls were happy at first because they had a full house for themselves, a mother and a real paternal figure. From that époque, Éponine recalled seeing her mother radiant and joyous, especially when she announced she was having a baby.

Gavroche was born on June of the next year. In that same month, life became hell for the Thénardier sisters. Her mother engaged in helping in the store because she dreamed that it became a family business or something. Montparnasse would take advantage of her being constantly absent to abuse of his two stepdaughters, hitting them, insulting them and making them do all the chores, even the ones that were too much for both of them. Once, he even locked them in a closet for the whole day, starving them and making them cry with threats. Gavroche would never mind seeing his sisters being cruelly treated because Montparnasse told him they had picked them up from the streets and they were not his sisters. They didn't say anything to her mother because she was happy and they didn't want to bother her. But Éponine, living in fear all day and having to appear strong for her younger sister, would cry alone in her room at night, when Azelma was asleep.

It didn't take long for her mother to realize what was happening in her house when she was absent. She soon found a job and took her daughters and son out of Montparnasse's house. They moved, again, to a little room, this time in a more respectable house. Gavroche cried all day because he missed his loving father and didn't like the ugly place they lived in. Then came a legal war for Gavroche's custody, which was won by Montparnasse because Éponine's mother had no money to pay a lawyer. Once again, her mother was destructed. She decided that the best thing to do was to move from the city.

They arrived to Boston when Éponine was 12. Her mother got a job as a secretary in the university of Boston, which paid well enough for them to leave in a small apartment and have some sort of "luxuries" every so often. When Éponine was 16, her mother got married again. This time, with a man called Claquesous, who was a law professor at the university. He was actually very good with them, helping Éponine's mother get a degree and a more respectable job. During that wedding, Éponine stood up besides Enjolras, her best friend, who knew her life story and insisted in supporting her. He was taking her hand and smiling reassuringly at her every so often. To everybody around them, it seemed that they were a couple. Les Amis, who she met in High School, were all there, also supporting Éponine.

The day of Éponine's graduation, both Enjolras and her were chosen to be valedictorians. Everyone's family was present, except hers. She did her best to hide the disappointment in her face and voice as she stood up to give her speech. That same day, she received two news. The first one, she had been accepted in the prestigious and quite expensive Emerson College to study writing and journalism, which made her incredibly blissful and relieved. The second news made all happiness blur for a while. Her house was empty and there was just a suitcase with her clothing and a few of her belongings in it. Her mother also left a note. Claquesous, Azelma and her moved to France, they had been planning everything for months. Claquesous got a job offer in a local university of Pau and the little money they had saved was enough just for the three of them to leave. Her mother explanation for leaving her behind was that she had "half of her life constructed in America" and that she couldn't be selfish because she had sacrificed most of her life for her to be happy.

Éponine cried bitterly. It had been almost two years since her they had abandoned her and the wound was still open. She felt like a disgrace. Éponine spent two weeks living in Enjolras' guests room. His parents loved her company and his mother even helped her get a decent apartment in which she didn't have to pay much. She started studying and working part-time on Le Café Musain, which was a small café ran by Madame Houcheloup, a French woman who accepted her immediately after knowing she spoke french and had clear french roots, but that didn't work very well because her double-degree program was very demanding and she had to maintain her scholarship. Then, Enjolras, as always, came to her rescue and offered her the empty room in the house he shared with Grantaire and Combeferre. That's when she started feeling somebody actually cared for her.

Suddenly, Éponine didn't feel the downpour in her eyes and she looked up. Éponine was surprised to find a guy tilting his umbrella slightly so she the thick raindrops didn't rich her. She smiled at him with curiosity. He brushed his brown hair with his free hand and a smile appeared in his freckled face.

"What are you doing? Don't you think you might get sick?" he asked her while offering his hand and helping her stand up. Once they were in front of each other, her smile faded and it was replaced by a gesture of discomfort and confusion.

"Do you know who am I?" she asked him. The guy pulled her towards a lamppost and studied her features.

"Am I supposed to know you?" he asked curiously.

"We've met before..." she whispered.

"Sorry, I'm very bad with faces and names," he said with an apologetical smile.

"I'm Mar..." he tried to introduced himself but was interrupted by Éponine.

"You're Marius Pontmercy and I'm Éponine Thénardier, Enjolras...friend," she said awkwardly, reminding to herself that Enjolras "didn't need her that much".

"Oh! I remember you now! Nice to see you again!" he exclaimed, "May I accompany you to your house?"

Éponine knew that it was better to refuse but he was already pulling her in direction of her house and she didn't want to be alone anymore or else she might even do something crazy to herself. They walked for a while in silence and then he decided to try and talk to her.

"So, how's Enjolras?" he asked.

"He won't be good when he knows about you and Cosette," she said quite low.

"You know? Who told you?"

"Cosette," she answered.

"Will you tell Enjolras?" he asked cautiously.

"I'm not a gossip," she answered just as they stopped in front of the house.

"Listen...I don't plan on knowing the whole story...but if you ever want to talk to me or hang out or anything, I'm always at the Café Mnemonic on my free afternoons," he said.

"Why would I want to hang out with the lover of my best friend's girlfriend?" she asked crossed.

"I'm just offering you my company, due to the way we encountered today," he said, "besides...you're really pretty and maybe I need to find a pretty girl that helps me stop liking my stepbrother's girlfriend."

Éponine was about to slap him but simply told him to go away and went inside, where Enjolras, Combeferre and Grantaire were sitting down in the couch.

"Look at you!" Grantaire said hugging her and lifting her from the floor.

"We were worried sick! Do you see the weather? Where were you?" Combeferre asked.

"I'm fine," she said with a frown as she looked directly at Enjolras.


	4. Chapter 4

The next day Éponine woke up almost at midday. For the first time, she felt relieved about having an odd and constantly changing schedule in university. She sat down in her bed with an idea swarming over and over again in her head. She remembered Marius' proposal and didn't know whether to feel insulted or flattered. She was confused but still, her mind formed an evil little plan.

In her Époninesque logic, going out with Marius and trying to seduce him could possibly mean two things. The first one and more important one being that he would leave Cosette, who wouldn't cheat on Enjolras anymore and, as much as it hurt to her, they could continue with their flawless relationship. The second one would probably be her finally finding a guy and following her friends' advice of moving on. With the state of her current relation with Enjolras, dating his much loathed stepbrother would be the least of her problems with him, especially when it would save him from being left heartbroken. Either that, or it would all fail and she would be hated by Marius, Cosette and Enjolras forever; not like she cared much what Marius and Cosette thought about her and Enjolras probably already hated her so there was not much to lose.

She thought about it for a few hours, walking around the room, while taking a shower, eating her breakfast in the lonely kitchen, when finishing the assignments for her classes and once again during her lectures that evening. After leaving the university, she walked absentmindedly once again. She ended up in front of Café Mnemonic, waiting for certain unknown and supernatural sign that told her whether to go inside or to leave. On the other hand there was this little, pessimistic voice in the back of her head that told her she was crazy, that Marius was probably drunk last night and that there was the possibility that today was not one of his "free afternoons".

She entered in an impulse and, once again, cursed herself mentally. She turned to leave when Marius spotted her and walked towards her, freezing her in her spot.

"I knew you would come," he said with a smile that invited her to trust him. He held her hand and gently guided her to his table. She looked around with the puzzled eyes of those who don't recognize their surroundings. Café Mnemonic actually resembled Le Café Musain quite a lot. She smiled. Marius looked at her with curiosity.

"Are you feeling well?" he asked out of the blue.

"Yes..." she answered, bewildered by his question.

"I mean, since I found you yesterday drenched and the weather hasn't been quite good during this month..." he said nervously.

"Oh, yes, thanks for asking," she said with a smile.

After two hours, several topics of conversation, chocolate chip cookies and several caffeinated drinks, Éponine, who was actually having a good time with Marius, found the courage to speak about something important.

"Why are you going out with Cosette?" she asked, intended to make a reproach, which sounded more like a curious question.

Marius thought for a while before answering. "I actually fell for her. I'm in love with her, although I know it's wrong. Well...It might be true that the first thing that attracted me to her was knowing that she was Enjolras' girlfriend. But the truth is I later realized she's very especial and I started feeling something for her. I know it's not okay, don't think I'm a douchebag."

"But you wanted to harm Enjolras in the first place and, I can deduce, you didn't mind about Cosette, which automatically makes you a jerk," she said.

"And you like Enjolras, which doesn't leave you in a better position," he stated with a grin, making Éponine blush.

"At least I'm not seducing him to cheat on Cosette, am I?" she said with a cheeky smile. There was something in Marius that made her smile, although she knew his story with Enjolras and considered him a real jerk.

He was a Pontmercy, a quite rich and antique family of French roots that had quite the history in the American revolution and everything. They were powerful and praised throughout the highest spheres of society in the United States, especially in Boston. His mother died when he was a child and he went to leave with his grandfather, who spoiled him to death. Georges, his father, went to travel around the world in business and barely visited his son, which made him quite rancorous.

In a visit he did to Ljubljana, the capital of Eslovenia, Georges met Catherine Martin, Enjolras' mother who had just divorced from Monsieur Enjolras Father, in a bar. For a week they met in the same bar and when they arrived to Boston, they were already married. Georges brought Marius, who was seventeen and didn't quite approve his father's decisions, to live with him and so did Catherine. Enjolras was a year older and also didn't approve what her mother did, but not even that helped the boys get along well; it was hate at first sight.

Marius was somewhat jealous that Enjolras had the opportunity, at least once in his life, to live with a proper family. Enjolras, who was also from a rich family but still managed to be somewhat humble, hated how spoiled Marius was. Until the day each one was old enough to leave, their fights were legendary in their house. Once they both moved out, they pledged not to see each other often enough, which was fine for both of them.

"Let me take you home, Éponine," he offered.

"I'm not going to refuse, yet I won't accept either. If somewhat asks, you kidnapped me," she said graciously.

"Alright, Mademoiselle, let me kidnap you to your house," he said before paying the bill.

They left towards Éponine's house, talking about nonsensical topics and laughing hardly. Marius parked his car in front of her house and looked at her for a couple of minutes.

"Marius Pontmercy, you're a jerk but at least you make me smile," she said.

"Glad to know that," he said.

Enjolras was staring through his window, worried about Éponine's lately behavior. He had yet another fight with Cosette, this time on how he didn't have time to help her with her schoolwork or to support her in her "decisions". This time, he didn't even have Éponine to help him deal with the stress of being in a relationship and disappointed him and made him feel actually quite sad.

All of a sudden, he saw a particularly familiar black Porsche park in front of the house and stay there for a couple of minutes. Éponine descended from the car and smiled at the anonymous driver, waving goodbye at him before going inside. Enjolras couldn't help but feel a jealous rage wash over his body. Who was him? Why did Éponine smile so much to him? Then, he started thinking about why did that car seem to be familiar. Who did he know that owned a Porsche?

More importantly, why was he so jealous of Éponine's company?

...

_I cannot continue with you -M _

_WHAT?! - C_

_What I said -M_

_You're breaking up with me through text messages? -C_

_I guess so. I love you Cosette but I'm tired of being 'the lover' -M _

_Wait Marius! I told you I would break up with him and we can finally be together now -C _

_Don't do it just because I'm leaving you -M _

_Marius you can't do this to me! I love you and you love me, right? -C _

_Please don't fight anymore -M _

_There's another one, right? You're doing to me the same I did to Enjolras, right? -C_

_I won't discuss that with you -M_

_Who's the bitch? -C_

_Please Cosette... -M _

Éponine arrived to Café Mnemonic two weeks after their first encounter. Since both Enjolras and her were too proud to make up from their fight, they hadn't spoken to each other in that same amount of time, so Éponine spent her free time either with her friends or with Marius at the Café. He cleared his throat and she guessed he was going through a bad moment.

"I wanted to clear my status as a jerk in your eyes," he said showing her the phone.

Éponine read the conversation twice and had to employ all of her self control to avoid smiling; she was "the bitch", her plan was working.

She shot him an ironic glare. "You're right, you're not a jerk anymore...you're a hyper jerk," she said with a smile.

"What?" he asked with a frown.

"You broke up with her through text messages? That's low...even for a lover," she said, making him smile amid his sadness.

"Come on, Éponine, during the last two weeks I've asked you to date me and you've refused because I was with Cosette. Now I'm single. Please date me," he asked.

"Fine Marius, let's go on a date."

As Marius thought where to take Éponine for their date and maintained a conversation with her in which she called him "jerk" a couple of times, Cosette kept texting furiously. She was clearly heartbroken.

* * *

**Next chapter's going to be...funny. I hope you like it. Thanks for reading. Please leave a comment :) **


	5. Chapter 5

On Friday night, Éponine got ready for her date with Marius. He didn't exactly tell her what they were doing but told her to dress somewhat elegant. She put on a red dress and ballet flats, because she knew those were Enjolras' favorite colors. She didn't know why exactly that mattered but she still took it in account when take the dress out of her closet. She half tied her hair and left her room to find most of Les Amis, including Enjolras, chatting in the living room. Everyone looked at her when she sat down besides Grantaire and smiled.

"And were are you going?" Bahorel asked her.

"On a date," she answered with a smile.

"Oh! So who's the lucky one?" Joly said.

"I'll reserve his name for another occasion," she replied, winking at her friend.

Enjolras, with a cold stare, stood up and took his car keys. "I'm going to pick up Cosette," he announced as though everyone expected an explanation. He secretly wanted to make Éponine jealous but was disappointed when she didn't even blink. Little did he know that the girl was already used to hiding her feelings; that comment had teared her heart apart.

_At least I know his girlfriend is not cheating on him anymore. _

Marius picked her up fifteen minutes later in his exquisite car. After much chat and pleading, he told her they were going to one of his favorite french restaurants in the city, Lumière.

"I swear, you'll love it," he said.

They arrived a few minutes later. Marius parked his car besides an red Audi that was very familiar to her. She didn't give too much important to the car and took her companion's hand as he guided her to the restaurant. Lumière was a very expensive and fancy restaurant. It was a small, circular room with the tables disposed to the sides in order to have a string quarter in the middle. It was clear that you could see almost everybody in the restaurant and it was so exclusive that you needed to have a reservation made months before in order to access, unless, of course, you were with somebody like Marius Pontmercy, who, just by saying his name was granted a seat in one of the best tables they had.

Marius was recognized by an old man, a friend of his family, who rushed to greet him warmly. He let Éponine go with the waitress, who guided her to their table, while he had a nonsensical small talk with the man. She sat down, thanking the waitress who immediately brought her water and asked her a lot of questions so she wasn't left alone. She felt as though she realized she was intimidated and wanted to make her feel alright.

"Your dress is one of the most beautiful I've seen in a while," she complimented while serving her water in a glass cup.

"Thank you," Éponine answered politely.

"Do you like the string quartet? Is there any song you'll like them to play tonight?" she asked.

"Oh, no, I'm not that much of a connoisseur, although I love Vivaldi, if there's any chance of them playing something from him," Éponine answered with a smile.

The woman rushed towards the four men on the center of the room and whispered something to them, who nodded in enthusiastically and continued playing their current song. Nobody paid attention to them, so it was good to know there was somebody out there who was actually listening.

"Oh my God, isn't that Éponine?" Cosette, from the other side of the room, asked to Enjolras.

They were also having a date on said restaurant. Enjolras' family was also very rich and influential; nobody could refuse him a table, especially at a prestigious restaurant. He looked at the girl Cosette was shamelessly pointing out and proved, upon a simple glance, that it was indeed his Éponine who was captivated by the string quartet. She was in the table right in front of his, disposed in a way in which they had a perfect view of her and, when he arrived, her companion.

Enjolras stared out of curiosity, wanting to know who was Éponine's date, when suddenly, his stepbrother came out of nowhere and sat by her side, taking her hand as soon as he had the chance. Enjolras' expectation fell and his face contracted in jealousy, rage and indignation. Cosette was openmouthed looking at the couple across from them. In a moment of fury, Enjolras stood up, swearing so loudly that even the string quartet stopped playing and all eyes went to him, including Éponine's.

Her dreamy smile faded completely and she looked away when Enjolras' eyes met hers. His eyes were colder than ever, filled with disappointment and hurt. She felt helpless, vulnerable and completely stupid. As her mother had done so many times, and thought her to do, she fled. Éponine stood up from her seat and, leaving Marius behind, ran away from the restaurant with tears in her eyes.

Once in the parking lot, somebody grabbed her wrist painfully and she turned her face to the other said, afraid that it was Enjolras. It wasn't. It was Marius, who hugged her as she sobbed in his chest and pulled her softly to his car to leave the restaurant. He made her seat down in the passenger seat and he sat on the other side without even turning the car on, simply wiping away the tears from her eyes.

"We're not doing anything wrong, Éponine, you don't have to feel guilty," he said when her sobs became almost inaudible.

"But I love him! I love him! And now he hates me because he hates you! And you love Cosette and I took you from her side!" she said shakily.

"Listen...even if it breaks my heart, my thing with Cosette wouldn't have worked anyways," he said and sighed.

"Éponine...I know I'm a hyper jerk in your eyes and everything and that you're in love with Enjolras as much as I'm in love with Cosette...but why don't we try to forget them...together?" he asked.

"You mean...as a couple?" she asked with uneasiness.

"Yes, as a couple," he answered.

Éponine smiled amid the tears and intertwined Marius' hand with hers. He answered with a wide grin and drove away from that disastrous restaurant, decided to fix their date. He took her to the Café Mnemonic, which was surprisingly still open at that hour and they laughed at how awkward they felt with their fancy clothing in such a common place. People looked at them as if they were royals and it contributed to them feeling both special and weird at the same time.

They ended their date with a stroll through Boston's Public Park, which was actually the place were they "met".

"Most couples see the place were they met as quite romantic. For me it is a beautiful, casual place where the tragedy started," she said.

"And by tragedy you either mean our relationship or the conditions in which we met," he stated.

"Both," she answered with a wink.

Later, Marius parked his car in front of Éponine's house. He looked at her for a few minutes and smiled.

"You know? Although it started with a disaster, it was pretty much a funny date," he said.

"Yes..." she answered quite unsure.

"Hey, if Enjolras says anything, remember we're not doing anything wrong," he said before trying to kiss her. Éponine refused and op the car door as subtly as possible.

"Thanks for the amazing night," she said.

"No problem," he answered with a sigh.

...

"So Éponine's date was Marius?" Grantaire asked to a really mad Enjolras, who had arrived shouting and cursing.

"THAT IMBECILE TOOK MY ÉPONINE TO A DATE...AND SHE ACCEPTED! SHE KNOWS THAT HE'S THE A PERSON I CAN'T STAND AND STILL SHE DECIDES TO ACCEPT!" he roared.

"Woah...wait a minute. Your Éponine? Remember she's just your friend. Geez it's not like she's cheating on you or something! Why don't you let her be happy with a guy for once?" Courfeyrac asked, quite mad.

"NO! SHE CANNOT GO OUT WITH MARIUS!" Enjolras said.

"With Marius? But what if instead of going out with Marius she went out with me? You would be in this same position," Bahorel said.

All of Les Amis knew what Éponine felt for Enjolras. Secretly, he himself suspected about it but he was too much of a coward to admit it and declare to her that he more than liked her. And, there was also Cosette, who he loved...or at least that's what he thought and wanted to keep thinking, for respect to her and her family.

Before he could answer, Éponine opened the door to find all of Bahorel, Courfeyrac, Combeferre and Grantaire sitting in the living room and Enjolras standing in the middle, visibly quite bewildered and mad.

"Hello Ép...how was your date?" Courfeyrac asked purposely, making Enjolras scowl.

"Great," she said looking directly at Enjolras and frowning at him.

"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?" Enjolras shouted.

"What do you mean?" she asked, trying to maintain her composure.

"YOU WENT ON A DATE WITH MARIUS PONTMERCY! ARE YOU CRAZY? OR WAS IT TO MAKE ME MAD?" Enjolras continued.

"DON'T THINK YOU'RE THE CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE, YOU IDIOT!"

"Gosh! you guys look like a married couple!" Grantaire exclaimed, making them all laugh.

"MARRIED? I? MARRIED TO HER? I CANNOT MARRY A TRAITOR," he said rolling his eyes. Éponine was very hurt by his comment.

"AND I CANNOT MARRY AN EGOTISTICAL, DESPOTIC ASSHOLE WITH A MARBLE HEART THAT CANNOT LIVE IN PEACE UNTIL HE HAS EVERYONE'S LIVES UNDER HIS CONTROL!" she said, eyes red with fury.

"Guys..." Combeferre was about to say.

"SHUT UP COMBEFERRE!" Both Éponine and Enjolras said.

"So I'm an egotistical, despotic asshole?" he asked.

"Says so the traitor," she said.

"That's it...I'M NOT TALKING WITH YOU AGAIN!" he said rancorously.

"ALRIGHT! DON'T TALK TO ME AGAIN...BUT LET ME TELL YOU I'VE DONE IT FOR YOUR OWN GOOD!" she said desperately, once again, not measuring her words.

"AN APPLAUSE TO THE STUPIDEST EXCUSE I'VE EVER HEARD IN MY ENTIRE LIFE!" he exclaimed.

"WELL WHY DON'T YOU ASK YOUR GIRLFRIEND?" she said, making Combeferre fear that she was going to tell him everything in her moment of rage.

"Don't ever talk to me again, Éponine," he said going to his room and closing the door in frustration.

Enjolras sat on his bed and looked at the ceiling with tears in his eyes. Of course he didn't hate her or didn't to break their friendship apart. No, he wanted to hug her again and even dare to kiss her. He loved Éponine, that was for sure. But he couldn't leave Cosette and besides, Éponine already hated him and she had Marius.

"Don't dare to leave again Éponine," Grantaire said while blocking the door playfully. Éponine took the bottle from his hand and took a long drink.

"How come non of you had plans tonight?" Éponine asked sitting next to Courfeyrac.

"We planned to stay here and drink while watching telly but your discussions with Enjy are far more entertaining," Courfeyrac answered, winning a smack from Bahorel.

...

Almost a month after their first date, Éponine found herself sitting in front of Marius at Café Mnemonic, which became their daily meeting place. She preferred Le Café Musain and she would always buy her coffee and cookies there on the way to meet Marius. She was studying for the upcoming exams week, as she would've done if Enjolras was there with her. Marius looked at her without telling her anything, sighing every so often to see if maybe that would call her attention and she would take the hint.

They had gone on four dates that went equally disastrous, not because of them finding Enjolras and Cosette but because of their lack of disposition to be in a committed relationship. They would always end up in front of Éponine's house, Marius trying to give her a kiss, not becaue he really wished one but because he felt it was "what he should do" being her boyfriend, and Éponine refusing as nicely as possible. They would barely hold hands or hug. When they saw each other they discussed informal topics like school or have one-sided discussions about government, but never something to committed or interesting for either of them. Marius had to admit he expected her to be another Cosette and Éponine had to accept she wanted him to be Enjolras. They were both getting tired of the situation but they wouldn't accept it and try to continue as though nothing was going on.

...

Enjolras went to Cosette's house to help her study for her exams. She was studying psychology and although he didn't know a lot on the topic, he helped her with the subjects he did know, like mathematics or history, as Cosette complained on why would she need that in her future.

Jean Valjean opened the door and greeted Enjolras with pity in his eyes. He had found out of Cosette's whereabouts with Marius Pontmercy and now felt too ashamed to look at Enjolras, which was a guy he sincerely valued and loved as a son, with the same eyes as before. Enjolras sensed this but tried not to give much importance to it.

Cosette waited for him in the library, with all of her books scattered around. They kissed each other reluctantly and sat down.

"Cosette, I need to talk to you before we start studying," he said.

"What is it?" she said nervously.

"It's about Éponine. I've been thinking about something she told me on Friday and it's making me mad," Enjolras said.

"Continue," Cosette said as though it was nothing important.

"She said she was dating Marius for my own good...and told me to ask you about it," he said.

"That bitch," Cosette mumbled to herself.

"Well...I won't lie to you love," she said recalling every tip Musichetta, who was studying to be an actress, had told her in the past, "Éponine's actually quite in love with you. That day at the ice cream parlor...she told me so. And she also told me she would do anything to break us apart. But I guess...she decided to leave us alone when she met Marius. Don't blame her...she just wants to move on and leave us alone."

Enjolras didn't say anything and opened one of her text books. He had a lot to think about.

* * *

**And we have a complicated love square...I hope you like it :) please review. **


	6. Chapter 6

"Ép," Marius finally had the courage to say.

"Yes?" she said without paying much attention.

"Nothing," he replied before taking a long sip of his drink.

"I think I might visit my grandfather for christmas," he said out of nowhere, causing no reaction in Éponine.

"Excuse me? Were you saying something?" Éponine said, lifting her head from her papers.

"Nothing," he said in defeat. Éponine turned back to studying and Marius moaned in despair.

"Seriously Ép? Nothing can be _that _important to give up your free time," he said.

"Marius, it is when you're broke and virtually orphan that's striving to maintain a scholarship that can be snatched very quickly from her hands," she said absentmindedly.

"We need to talk Ép," he said seriously. As a response, Éponine gave him her full attention.

"You're really pretty and fun. You make me laugh and we spend a good time together..." he said.

"But still, we're going to break up, right?" she said. He expected her to frown or at least show some hysteric face or something. But Éponine simply smiled at him and took his hand.

"We've been...together for a month or so and it's clearly not working. I don't want to know that my girlfriend is not the girl I love and I dream with and I'm sure you'll get bored of me either way. I'm not Enjolras so whatever you saw in him it's not going to magically appear in my personality. You love Enjolras, I saw it the day you left the restaurant. Maybe it was a very stupid mistake to try and forget about them by getting into a relationship, you know? But we can still be friends?" he proposed as she played with his hand, which was very ironic; she behaved more like a girlfriend now when he was breaking up with her than during the month in which they were together.

"I totally understand, Marius," she said, "and I really think we could still be friends...let's be sincere, it's not like if this breakup is hurtful or anything."

"I agree...how can you feel sorry about not having a hyper jerky boyfriend?" he winked, making her laugh.

"So...friends?" she offered while stretching her hand for him to shake it.

"Friends," he said shaking her hand.

Suddenly, Éponine's smile faded. She stood up and started packing the things she had scattered in the table in a sort of nervous wreck. She had remembered her queer little plan, which results had been much more fatalistic than what she had foreseen; Marius turned out to be a good guy who was now calling her "friend" even though she purposely destroyed his chance to be happy with Cosette. Éponine realized that even if Cosette wasn't _currently_ cheating on Enjolras, she had cheated on him and it was still as bad; he would be hurt anyways. The worst part was that she had made him hate her. She even hated herself for not waiting, just as Combeferre told her to do.

"What happened? You don't have to leave," he said very confused.

"I must tell you the truth..."

"I hear you,"

"Well...when I first accepted going out with you, it was simply because I wanted you to leave Cosette and that she stopped cheating on Enjolras. I had the foolish idea that once she wasn't cheating, Enjolras wouldn't be hurt and invented all of this plan...going out with you, unconsciously making you break with Cosette and torturing you to the most boring month in your dating life," she said with tears in her eyes, "I'm sorry for doing so...and if you don't want to talk to me anymore, I'll understand. I just wanted to protect my friend."

Marius did something quite unexpected in response: he hugged her. Éponine hugged him back and closed her eyes without saying a word.

"I'm really jealous of Enjolras right now...knowing he has a friend like you," he said with a smile, "and let's hope, a future girlfriend".

Éponine smiled back.

"Listen to me. I haven't been to sincere with you either but since you're telling me your truth, I shall tell you mine. I did recognize you went we met in the park and I...kind of used you too. Cosette wasn't giving in, she didn't want to tell Enjolras about our relationship and I was really getting tired of being the lover. I mean, if she really wants to be with me, why do we have to hide from the world? So I thought that if I got her jealous, she would tell Enjolras and we could finally be together...that's why that day we went to the restaurant. I knew they would be there...Now you're the one that has to forgive me," he said. Éponine was open mouthed.

"And I thought I was the one with a malevolent, movie like plan..." she muttered, making him blush and look away.

"Don't tell Cosette I ever planned this...she thinks I really just wanted to try and forget her," Marius said.

"As long as you don't tell anybody about my plans, yours are safe with me," she said shaking his hand once again.

"Bye Ép," he said, taking a seat.

"Bye hyper jerk," she answered.

...

On her way home, Éponine found herself on a much more pleasant mood than most of the days during her last month, in which she wasn't only stressed out because of her studies but also because of her disastrous attempt of a relationship. She was soon in front of Le Café Musain, greeting Madame Houcheloup in an impecable french (the only valuable inheritance from her family) and asking for one of her famous cookies and a cappuccino. She sat in an empty table with a pleasant smile on her face, expecting to take a bite from her chocolate chipped cookie when she suddenly felt somebody looking at her.

The blonde couple who's faces she knew by heart were seating, once again, in a table just in front of hers, casting, especially Cosette, curt glances in her direction. Éponine remembered with bitterness the last time that this had happened and how it ended. She hadn't spoken to Enjolras ever since that day and, according to what she had heard from Combeferre and Courfeyrac, their relationship wasn't going very well. That's why it didn't surprise her when they started to fight in a higher tone than what they should in a public place.

Éponine, cookie and cappuccino in hand, left the place immediately. She felt as though it was all her fault. She didn't know they were once again fighting about nothing. She sat down in a bench near the lake in the public park and ate her beloved baked good before taking out her textbook and starting to study again.

"Are you happy now?" a well known voice said to her.

"Cosette..." Éponine said while closing her textbook.

"NO! DON'T SAY ANYTHING TO ME, BITCH! YOU KNEW I WAS GOING OUT WITH MARIUS...YOU KNOW HOW MUCH I LOVE HIM AND YOU STILL GO ON A DATE WITH HIM? YOU'RE A REAL BITCH!" Cosette said as Éponine stood up.

"Cosette I need you to go..." Éponine was about to say but was interrupted.

"What did you say Cosette?"

Éponine closed her eyes, wishing that the voice behind Cosette didn't belong to the person she thought it belonged to.

"Love..." Cosette said.

"ANSWER TO ME COSETTE!" he barked. Cosette looked away.

"I'm in love...with Marius," she said. Enjolras' eyes turned cold and firm, making Éponine shiver.

"and you knew about this?" Enjolras said to Éponine with disdain.

"I...I just wanted to protect you," Éponine said in a whisper.

"I don't want to talk to either of them again," he said coldly, "Cosette, you might know we're not together anymore."

Éponine and Cosette looked at each other with mixed feelings. Éponine was on the verge of crying and Cosette, who had hated her since that night at the restaurant, felt her heart broke. She knew Éponine genuinely loved Enjolras, and knowing he was talking to her so cruelly was really sad. On her part, Éponine felt everything was shattering. He had said that before but now it felt so terminating that she couldn't handle it.

Enjolras stood there, feeling betrayed, more by Éponine than by Cosette.

"I thought I could trust you," he said to Éponine, not measuring the impact of his words.

"Enjolras, don't say that to her!" Cosette said, gaining a crossed look from her now ex-boyfriend.

"Please be quiet..." he said.

Éponine gave her back to them with tears in her eyes. Then she turned around. "You should really go to see Marius...he'll explain everything to you." Éponine then left without saying anything else, leaving a very upset Enjolras and a confused Cosette.

...

"I don't know what to do Combeferre!" Éponine said while grabbing her head with both of her hands.

"Tell me explicitly what happened," Combeferre answered while patting her back softly.

Éponine arrived to the house after the encounter with Enjolras and Cosette. She wasn't expecting what happened. Combeferre found her packing her clothing and belongings in a suitcase and some bags. She was leaving the house.

"Cosette made an imprudent comment and Enjolras found out. Now he hates me because he thinks that I'm sort of an "accomplice" or something," she said rocking herself back and forth, "why didn't I wait like you told me to?"

"Because you are you," he said patiently, "what do you plan on doing?"

"Do you really think I know?" she said, thinking for a while.

"Calm down Ép," he said.

"I'm going to tell you something," she said, "When my mother's family didn't let her marry my father, she fled with him and they arrived to New Orleans. When she realized he was no good, she fled again, this time with me and my sister, to her lover's arms. When her lover and later husband became just another version of my father, she fled once again. And when the economic situation in this country turned unbearable for her, she fled once again."

"And now that Enjolras told you he doesn't want to see you again and you think everything's lost...you'll flee?" he asked her.

"I won't flee...I'll just move out of this house. It's not fleeing. You'll see me every day," Éponine said before hugging him.

"Where are you going? You can't pay a house...you need to study!" he said.

"I'll go to Miss Houcheloup...we already talked. She'll let me stay in the rooms above Le Café Musain and maybe later in a dorm for a while," Éponine said.

"I won't dissuade you Ép...but at least let me accompany you," he said while taking the suitcase.

"Thanks 'Ferre," she said.

...

"I can't believe I'm doing this," Enjolras thought as he sat in front of Marius. He didn't know whether if it was out of curiosity or annoyance, or the fact that he couldn't take Éponine's broken voice off of his head, that he had accepted Cosette's proposal to accompany her to see Marius. He felt he hated both of them, especially as they had the courage to shamelessly look at each other with the eyes of lovers in front of him.

"Éponine told us we should come to talk to him. But I guess...we could solve our _issues _later. Tell Enjolras what you know about Éponine, for him not to hate her," Cosette said.

"Hello...Enjolras," Marius said, trying to be polite.

"I have no time for this," he said rolling his eyes.

"I'll say this as quick as possible...in a summarized way, Enjolras. Éponine wanted to protect you. She dated me because she thought that if I left Cosette you wouldn't be hurt and believe me...our month together wasn't our best dating experience. She really loves you Enjolras," Marius said.

Enjolras sighed. He thought about Éponine's broken face as she told him they had to go and see Marius. Her expression when he said he didn't want to see her again made his heart ache. He was such a monster! He then realized how much he cared for Éponine, how much it really hurt him to fight with her. Enjolras remembered all the lazy nights in which he stayed talking to her, watching movies or simply admiring her smile. They would laugh, cry, go on dates without knowing so and trust in each others blindly. He loved Éponine. He loves Éponine.

"Thank you," he said to Marius before standing up and leaving, he had to search for her.

The road home was really stormy for Enjolras. All of the lights were in red just when he was about to cross. More than once he had to witness grannies crossing alone through the streets. He was in the middle of a traffic jam and when he arrived, he was sweaty and nervous. He opened the door to find an empty house.

He ran to Éponine's room, to find a note for him pasted in the door.

_Enjolras: _

_I don't love you._

_Don't want you to marry me_

_and I'm not going to like you forever._

_simply, I like you._

_Like the way I like to see the sky at night,_

_I could like you for a long time_

_Or maybe just until tomorrow._

_Be happy to know that..._

_-Forget about all that crap, I've fallen for you._

_I don't know why I wasted so much time pretending I didn't care but I'm totally and completely in love with you and I don't care if it's too late. I'm telling you anyways._

_-Ép_

* * *

**You guys...let me tell you that this is the end...**

**Of the chapter of course ;) I hope you liked it! Please comment! **


	7. Chapter 7

Enjolras sat down on Éponine's empty bed with the note in his hand. The room was completely empty, the house was all alone. Enjolras thought for a minute how he would function if he never saw Éponine's sparkly eyes and wide smile never again. He tried to imagine waking up and expecting to see her hilarious whining on whether if those who designed her schedule thought that she was a zombie or a vampire that didn't need to sleep. He contemplated the idea of never bringing her a cookie again or sharing a book with her (just before remembering he hadn't done either in a very long time). He then saw the note once again.

"Éponine loves me...and I...I love her back," he whispered to nobody.

"I love her back...I love her and she's not here," he whispered once again.

He took his phone and dialed her number about ten times with no response. He texted her quite a lot of times too, asking her to come home and telling her that he had important news. Again, nothing happened. Just then, Courfeyrac, Bahorel, Combeferre and Grantaire came in to the house, thinking that Enjolras was not there.

"Do you think she'll come back?" Grantaire asked with sadness.

"I do believe so...she said she wouldn't leave us," Combeferre answered, "she just needs to think...and get over him. I guess it's the best thing for her right now."

"You're right. Man, I really hate Enjy right now..." Bahorel answered bitterly.

"It's not like he has all the fault, really, he just needs to wake up," Combeferre said.

"Anyways, I just hope that we don't stop seeing Pony, because that would really make me upset," Courfeyrac said.

And that's when Enjolras made his great entrance.

"Where did Éponine go?" he asked seriously.

"I don't know," Grantaire shrugged while looking directly at Combeferre.

"You were with her, both of you were. Tell me right now.." he demanded.

"Why do you care? What do you want to add to your message? 'Hey Éponine, I searched for you to tell you that I hate you and, as I said before, I don't want to see you again' You're an asshole," Bahorel barked, making Enjolras really upset and, at the same time, sad.

"I just want to tell her...I love her," he whispered, making everybody quiet.

"What?!" Courfeyrac exclaimed after a while of silence.

"What...what?" Enjolras answered, confused.

"You...what?" Grantaire said.

"I love Éponine with all my heart...and I was too blind to notice before. Now that she's gone, I need to tell her right away," he said.

"Did you try calling her?" Combeferre asked.

"Check my phone. She hasn't answered to my texts or called me or anything," he said.

"Well, then do not insist," Courfeyrac said severely, "she told us the she'll come back when she's ready."

"YOU LIE! I'VE HEARD YOU WHEN YOU SAID YOU WON'T STOP SEEING HER!" Enjolras said desperately.

"I said I hope not to stop seeing her," Courfeyrac said.

"Whatever. Please mes amis, I really need to talk to her," Enjolras said.

"Enjolras, stop it," Combeferre said.

...

Two weeks later, Éponine, already installed in a room on the upper part of Le Café Musain, sat down on a table while studying and eating her cookie. She was more relaxed now, although her heart ached and her mind was constantly focused on not answering to Enjolras when he called her. She had been visited by Marius and Cosette, who were really happy and thanked her a lot, although she thought that the only thing she had done for her relationship was to keep them apart for about a month or so.

"Yes, I'm searching for somebody, I think she's brunette, not very tall. I know her name's Éponine, although I don't really know what her last name is. She's my...sister and I'm searching for her," a blonde teenager said to Madame Houcheloup on the bar. Éponine, who was hearing from her place, froze.

"What's your name young man?" Madame Houcheloup asked as she adjusted her glasses.

"My name's Gavroche Montparnasse," he said, making Éponine turn around.

Madame Houcheloup signaled at Éponine and he walked towards her with hesitation as she looked at him. Curly and tangled blonde hair falling in front of his eyes, fair complexion and blue, warm eyes. The boy sat in front of her without even asking. He was quite nervous.

"What's your name?" he asked her.

"Éponine Thénardier," she answered, making him sigh with relief.

"I finally found you, sister!" he exclaimed. Éponine was quite uncomfortable.

"I...you...what are you doing here?" Éponine asked him. Gavroche frowned.

"My old man, Montparnasse (do you remember him?), it's been having economical troubles. He had to close his business and all...so he kicked me out of the house. For a while I lived with a neighbor, Miss Lucy, who apparently lived there when she lived in the house," he said.

"I can't forget your father and Miss Lucy, that old gossip, I do remember her," Éponine said absentmindedly. She closed her books immediately, not believe what was happening to her after all of these years.

"Well, she told me about you and our mother and Azelma. She knew all the story but I didn't believe a thing; I didn't remember any of you. But then I went to my father's house to take a few of my belongings that he hadn't sold and found, in the bottom of a lot of rubbish he was going to sell, a photo album with pictures of two girls and a beautiful woman who was pregnant. My father was in them too and in the latest once, I was also there, as a baby of course. I took it to Miss Lucy, who signaled every one of them to me," he said as he took out a photo album from his bag.

He offered it to Éponine and she took it to find the happiest years of her life in a photo album. There was a picture of the first christmas they had at Montparnasse's house, in which they received the first beautiful gifts in years. Also there was a picture of her in one birthday with a big cake that had printed the picture of Mickey Mouse on top of it and said 'Happy Birthday 'Ponine'. Everyone looked so happy that it made her cry. Then she saw some pictures of her and her sister along with her pregnant mother. On the back part of the album, there were pictures of baby Gavroche and there was no more smiling Éponine or Azelma. She even saw one in which Gavroche was smiling and she was in the background with a black eye. Éponine started crying as the memories rushed back to her.

"Your father would hit and insult me and my sister. When you were born...oh gosh," she said as she found herself sobbing. Gavroche tried to console her.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to...make you cry," he said while patting her back.

"Don't worry," she said between sobs, "I just never even considered that you would come here."

"And...where's mother...and Azelma?" he asked, making Éponine cry even more.

"Our mother married again to a man named Claquesous. They moved to France one day without even telling me and I was left alone here," she said as she tried to calm her sobs, "I'm all alone Gavroche, I don't know why you came searching for me."

"Because you're my family!" he said to her as he stood up to hug her.

Éponine, who was tired of feeling alone, hugged her brother too. He was taller than her, which made her feel stupid when her tears got his shirt all wet. Just then, Enjolras opened the doors of Le Café Musain to find her hugging Gavroche, who was giving his back to him so he couldn't see it was just a teenager. During her two weeks living at the Musain, she had tried not to encounter Enjolras and, being her friend for a long time, she knew his schedule by heart. Whenever she knew that he stayed until they closed, she would either arrive later or go through the back door and lock herself. Whenever she knew he would go by in the morning, she would go either earlier or later than him. But today, it was a total surprise to have him at Le Café at that hour. He was supposed to have class, so she even sat down to take breakfast and all.

Enjolras, who didn't go to class because he was exonerated from an exam they were doing, turned around just before they broke their hug and headed towards the house. He arrived before Combeferre and Grantaire left, completely desperate and throwing his things all around the place. He threw his beloved Social Contract along with the Communist Manifesto and almost broke a table they had at the entrance. Enjolras was furious.

"What's the matter with you?" Combeferre asked.

"ÉPONINE ALREADY CHANGED ME! SHE CHANGED ME! THE SAME GIRL WHO TOLD ME TWO WEEKS AGO THAT SHE HAD FALLED FOR ME CHANGED ME FOR A STUPID UNKNOWN BLOND! I'VE BEEN SEARCHING FOR HER IN EMERSON COLLEGE EVERY DAY, TEXTING HER CONSTANTLY AND CALLING HER. SHE DIDN'T EVEN HAVE A FACE TO TELL ME SO IN PERSON BUT RATHER MADE ME UNDERSTAND PAINFULLY!" he said throwing things around and shouting like a madman.

Grantaire and Combeferre had to hold him before he destroyed the whole house. Grantaire hit him with one of his really heavy books but he didn't stop screaming.

"SHE MADE ME APPEAR LIKE A FOOL!"

"SHUT IT MAN!" Grantaire said.

"NO! I DON'T WANT TO!" he answered.

Somebody knocked the door before they could continue shouting. It was Bahorel, who was sweating and really tired.

"Guys. Éponine's brother...the one she had lost...is here! He came to find her!" Bahorel said while catching his breath, "let's go to Le Café Musain right now!"

Then everyone looked at Enjolras, who was just figuring out the situation.

...

Éponine was telling to her newly found brother about Les Amis, especially her situation with Enjolras, when Joly and Bahorel appeared. Since they met the boy and found him to be quite an interesting guy, they decided to make an impromptu meeting of Les Amis, with Éponine not opposing to it but neither feeling thrilled about seeing Enjolras once again. They called Prouvaire, Bossuet and Courfeyrac, who agreed immediately and showed up a few minutes later. Courfeyrac and Gavroche became friends instantly.

Bahorel offered to go to Éponine's former house because any of the inhabitants answered the phone. When he arrived, he found them fighting an enraged Enjolras, who's shouts were heard even outside.

"Guys. Éponine's brother...the one she had lost...is here! He came to find her!" he said while catching his breath just as he opened the door, "let's go to Le Café Musain right now!"

The four of them arrived at Le Café Musain when all of the rest were already there, talking amicably and laughing really hard. The Musain was almost empty and Madame Houcheloup greeted them happily. Enjolras didn't look at anybody and instead, ran towards Éponine, stopping just in front of her. The room went quiet, making them even more uncomfortable.

"Can we...take a walk?" he asked. Éponine nodded and followed him while swallowing hard.

* * *

**So school mixed everything up...and I was really busy. But I'm currently working on the next chapter. I'm sad to tell you this might last one or two more chapters...but don't worry, I've got more ideas in my head plus, I'll continue with Hideaways :)**


	8. Chapter 8

They went to take a walk, Enjolras leading and Éponine walking just a few steps behind him, leaving behind a hushed crowd of curious Amis, Madame Houcheloup and Gavroche himself. They all stared directly at the window as the couple passed in front of them. Enjolras was very quiet and Éponine, emotionless. Once they were out of their sigh, Courfeyrac was the first one to break the ice.

"So...Ép Junior, do you also speak french, rant about government, consider women's liberation a concerning issue and are willing to bear with us?" Courfeyrac asked.

"Erm...does Éponine speak french? And she...rants about government and all that?" Gavroche asked while scratching the back of his neck.

"You didn't know?" Grantaire asked, not very surprised but trying to fake it.

"I've been her brother again for about two or three hours...and I barely know you," he defended himself, making all of them laugh.

All of them were very aware of Éponine's situation. During high school, which was a very awkward time for her in which she changed from being a total loner that couldn't adapt anywhere to a girl with really good friends, she opened up to Enjolras and later to Grantaire and Combeferre. When her mother, Claquesous and Azelma left her alone, she told everyone her story, hoping to avoid pity. As a result, they became her family.

"Don't worry, we'll teach you everything about Éponine...and you can be our friend," Bahorel offered, receiving a warm smile in response.

...

"We've missed you in the house," Enjolras said as they crossed the street.

"I can't believe two weeks had gone by," she coincided, "I've missed all of you."

Éponine omitted the fact that she had seen Les Amis in secret during that same time. They had several meeting places. During the first few days they met at Café Mnemonic but they all agreed that it wasn't as pleasant as Le Café Musain. Then, they met in Emerson College's campus, but Enjolras went there every day and it turned out to be inconvenient. Then, they decided to go to the public park but it was too loud to have a proper meeting. Soon, they ended up visiting her individually in her small room or having a coffee with her whenever she knew Enjolras wouldn't go the Musain.

"I've missed you," he then said with a frown, "I know you received every single one of my texts and emails, that you probably stared at your phone every time I called you and wondered whether if you should answer or not. Probably you even saw me once or twice when I went searching for you at the university. I was desperate, it was as if earth had swallowed you!"

Éponine took his hand. "Sincerely, I wanted to avoid you. You told me you didn't want to talk to me again, so I disappeared, ran away like a coward, just like my mother. The truth, Enjolras, is that I was afraid, afraid of seeing you every day frowning at me, telling me you hated me and you couldn't trust in me when I loved you so much," she said in defeat.

"Loved me?" he asked coldly while, at the same time, intertwined their fingers.

Enjolras was, indeed, capable of being terrible, Éponine thought. How could he be so cold while at the same time acting so tenderly? It was something she couldn't understand yet loved.

"I love you," she said with a sigh, "I've loved you for a long time, in silence, behind the shadows. Everyone knew about this except you! I swear! You know I'm not the kind of girl that dreams about going out with the guy of her dreams or anything but you...you just made my perspectives change and I really wanted this moment to come, in which I stood in front of you and told you everything I feel, but I never found enough courage and then everything happened. I'm sorry all of this had to happen for me to tell you everything."

Enjolras sighed and closed his eyes, not even making an effort to say something. Éponine stood there, in front of him, confused and waiting for his reaction. She also sighed, about to turned her back to him and return to Le Café Musain, to have some quality time with her newly found brother when Enjolras took her by the arm and kissed her in the lips. Éponine had her eyes wide open, caught by surprise. It was, at first, a tender little kiss that she deepened as she kissed back. She then started playing with his hair as he hugged her by her waist. The kiss lasted for as much as they could resist without oxygen.

"I love you too," he whispered in her ear, "I loved you for such a long time but I didn't dare to accept it to myself or to anybody, I didn't know what you were feeling so I was unsure. But now I tell you, I love you and this moment cannot be better."

Éponine kissed him again, this time it was just a chaste kiss.

"You're not going to remember I said this to you, in fact, you'll forget it immediately," she threatened.

"I promise," he answered with a smile.

"Since I realized I love you, I imagined you saying that to me," she said while blushing, making him chuckle.

"You're much more romantic than what you'll like to accept 'Ponine," he said as he pinched her cheek.

"But it's a secret between you and me," she shrugged, "besides, you're also a romantic fool...'this moment cannot be better' is something unforgettable."

They kept walking towards Boston's public park without touching or even looking at each other. Sometimes, Éponine would bump his shoulder and he would laugh. Sometimes, he would take her hand and she would scratch him with her nails and so on until they arrived to the park, where they sat down in front of each other with goofy expressions in their faces.

"So...what are we now?" he asked her.

"I don't know," she answered, "but I'm happy right now."

"Ép, would you like to be my girlfriend?" he asked her softly and Éponine smiled.

"Sure, what's the worst thing that could happen?" she answered with a grin.

"Well...we could probably fight...and you could disappear again...but then I would search for you again and we could make up," he said triumphantly.

"And how would we make up?" she asked, which lead him to kiss her again and again, lying in the grass as his lips moved towards the side of her head and hers conquered his neck, which, she noticed, gave him goosebumps.

"Get a room!" an easily recognizable voice said from afar. Both Éponine and Enjolras looked up to find Marius hand in hand with Cosette coming closer to them. Éponine looked directly at Enjolras to see his reaction but he seemed calm, he even smiled at them, which made Éponine chuckle.

"So, it took you two weeks," Cosette said with a smile.

"Would've taken us much more less if Éponine hadn't suddenly decided to play hide and seek," he said with irony as he sat up.

"We're happy for you," Marius said.

Enjolras stood up and then helped Éponine before talking to them further.

"So...no hard feelings?" Cosette asked expectantly. Enjolras sighed.

"You're the stepbrother I've always hated, who fought me since we're teenagers, who became my ex-girlfriend's lover, " he said in a sever voice to Marius, who frowned in response.

"You're my ex-girlfriend, who didn't have enough courage to tell me she didn't like me anymore and instead cheated on me with said stepbrother, who fought with me for everything and nothing in hopes that I got tired and left the relationship, who lied to me and made me fight more than ever with the girl I truly love," he said in that same tone to Cosette, who lowered her gaze.

"Yet, both of you helped me, in a way, to be with this girl, who I have loved for a very long time but never found the courage to admit it and probably would never had if you haven't crossed our paths," he added just as Éponine was about to scold him, "and that makes up for everything else. I'm not as rancorous as some people my think. So, no hard feelings, I guess."

Éponine smiled happily as Enjolras and Marius shook hands and Cosette squealed.

"We heard...your brother's here?" Cosette asked Éponine unsure.

"Who told you?" Enjolras asked curiously.

"Marius met Courfeyrac a few days ago and they're good friends now, we were heading towards Le Café Musain to meet him," Cosette explained. Enjolras looked at Éponine, who nodded.

"Well then, let's go to the Musain," Enjolras said as he took Éponine's hand.

...

"So that year, we all decided to celebrate Thanksgiving Day at Enjolras, Combeferre and Grantaire's house. Éponine was the designated cook," Courfeyrac said.

"Curious fact you might take advantage of, because we all do, you're sister's a decent cook," Grantaire interrupted.

"But, all of a sudden, she had to leave because she received a call from her work. At the time she worked and lived in this same Café and Madame Houcheloup had been left alone so she called Éponine. She left the turkey in the oven and Grantaire in charge, who was heavily drunk but she hadn't realized so until she left," Courfeyrac continued, "and then I arrived with Enjolras, who's the blond that left with your sister, and to find Grantaire snoring in the couch and a huge amount of smoke coming from the kitchen. The turkey was already too burned to be saved, we didn't know what to do and the house was filled with more and more smoke."

"Then Combeferre arrived and the three of us too the turkey off of the oven. It was a nasty black thing we had to throw away immediately. We had to call everyone to tell them to bring something and the only one we couldn't call was Éponine because we didn't know what to tell her and she arrived with big box of cookies from the Musain, realizing she had left the turkey to be watched by a drunk."

"In conclusion, thanks to this bastard, that Thanksgiving Day we ate pizza, cookies, old lasagna brought by Jehan, popcorn and other types of not quality food we could find in everyone's houses."

The café was filled with laughter when both couples arrived to the Musain to find them sitting in a circle, telling funny stories and facts about Éponine. Marius and Cosette were received amicably and Éponine and Enjolras with expectation.

"Mission accomplished?" Grantaire asked.

"Mission accomplished," Enjolras chuckled and they all laughed, encouraging them to kiss. Enjolras refused immediately, not wanting to make a show of their relationship but suddenly, he felt Éponine's lips on top of his. He answered to the kiss immediately and soon, everyone was clapping and laughing because finally they were together.

"What was that about?" he asked her in her ear.

Éponine shrugged, "I just love your lips".

* * *

**I'm sorry for not updating in such a long time, really. Things have turned quite crazy here...but I'm happy to be back. I hope you still like fanfic. **


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